Four diverse and immensely strong books — including one already shortlisted for the Man Booker, and another for the Women’s prize for fiction — have made it onto the shortlist for the Sunday Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young Writer of the Year award, in association with Warwick University.

The award, 28 years old this autumn, generously sponsored by the literary agency Peters Fraser & Dunlop, and open to British and Irish writers of 35 or under writing in any genre, is the most prestigious prize in the country for young writers, and has a remark-able record of spotting and championing significant writers early in their career. Past winners include Zadie Smith, Sarah Waters, Simon Armitage, Robert Macfarlane, William Dalrymple and, last year, Sally Rooney.

This…

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